Uncaged

Country is a sea of opportunities

If you, for some reason, still believe country is an old, worn-out genre where everything is played over a hundred times, and modern performers, at best, bring nostalgia, and, at worst, are intolerably dull, it is time for you to take a better look at the genre scene. You might be surprised to find some rather interesting ensembles which take country as a vast field for experiments. Among such acts one can undoubtedly name Zac Brown Band that in the summer of 2012 released their third album, Uncaged. The ensemble, apparently from the title, is led by a guy named Zac Brown, and this formation has already proved to be a group of daring researchers and creative thinkers who successfully keep searching for new forms of country. Even the folder of the album is executed in a manner not traditional for the genre, and some might even think it would better match a gothic or psychedelic rock music release. Well, the material of the record, too, has a few surprises to offer.

The band members worked well and so did the guests

The stylistic variety of Uncaged is not only an accomplishment by Zac Brown Band, but also a result of hard work by those authors and performers Zac made this album on paper and in the studio. Thus, the opener, Jump Into It, was written by Jason Mraz. Performed in cooperation with jazz and soul artist Trombone Shorty, Overnight got very close to the R&B domain. Another musicians having nothing to do with country, Amos Lee, helped the band with Day That I Die, a brooding and profound track. All by themselves, Zac Brown Band made a very nice reggae song Island Song filled with sunny and summer mood. At the same time, alongside experiments of various degrees of success, the musicians offer some sweet stuff made in a more traditional manner. Sweet Any, and Goodbye In Her Eyes make profit out of signature vocal harmonies and soft guitars. Thus kind of mild rock was very popular about thirty years ago, and today it is a great treat for aestheticians. Finally, another song worth mentioning is The Wind, the track that has biggest chances to become hit number one of this album. High tempo and complex instrumental parts show that Zac Brown Band musicians are not only good writers, but also good performers.

These lads simply could not make a bad album

Uncaged absorbed borrowings of a lot of trends and schools, but it preserved the wholeness, the integrity it needed. For all the variegation of its tracks, at each moment of the record, it is absolutely clear that this is a Zac Brown Band work. Another optimistic aspect is that the complexity and richness of the music material was not the very purpose of the musicians. They rather wanted to make most out of their genre, to use all its strengths and show all its sides. In any case, each track here, whatever influences and authorship it has, easily displays traces of country. And there is no doubt whatsoever that country is the only music that the lads from Zac Brown Band must be playing. You just cannot picture them doing anything different. The listeners are too fond of and too attracted to the image of these simple, easy-going musicians singing from the bottom of their heart. Uncaged is that kind of album that the band must have released and it has. It seems that Zac and his team simply could not have disappointed their listeners.